Stage Wreckage Examined for Clues

With Five Dead, Questions Arise About Whether Indiana Fair Should Have Scrubbed Music Show as High Winds Approached

ENLARGE

Five people died after a stage collapsed amid a storm Saturday at the Indiana State Fair. No one was performing when the accident happened.
Getty Images

By

Jack Nicas

August 15, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS—State officials are investigating the collapse of a towering outdoor stage Saturday night at the Indiana State Fair that killed five people and sent at least 40 to hospitals.

The stage came crashing down shortly after fair officials advised the crowd of 10,000 how to take shelter from an approaching storm.

Felled by a 60 to 70 mile per hour wind gust, a large stage, awaiting the performance of country group Sugarland, collapsed on to concertgoers killing five an injuring dozens at the Indiana State Fair Saturday. WSJ's Jack Nicas reports from Indianapolis.

Just after officials decided to order an evacuation, but before they could do so, a powerful gust toppled the structure. The National Weather Service estimated the gust exceeded 60 miles per hour.

The accident occurred at an intermission, with the country-music act Sugarland set to go on next. None of its members were hurt.

It wasn't immediately clear how many workers were on the stage when it crashed down in front of the audience members, most of whom were sitting at least 80 feet away in grandstands of the fair.

"It was terrible. You heard people crying and screaming," said Roger Smith Jr., a 28-year-old maintenance worker at the fair, who said he was standing near the side of the stage when it collapsed. "And you can't do a damn thing but watch it happen."

The fair closed Sunday as investigators examined the wreckage for clues. It's scheduled to reopen Monday, when a memorial service for the victims is to be held at the fairgrounds.

The engineering firms that design stages similar to the one at the fair use ballast systems to anchor the stage and rigging, and some set strict guidelines for lowering the roof when winds exceed safe speeds.

Scenes From the Stage Collapse

Andy Klotz, an Indiana State Fair spokesman, said Sunday that fair officials weren't aware of any instructions "to vacate concerts because of a certain wind speed."

The fair's executive director, Cynthia Hoye, said the structure was built by Mid-America Sound Corp., a company in Greenfield, Ind., that had done this sort of work at the fair for more than a decade.

"I have a great deal of confidence in them," she said.

Mid-America Sound didn't return calls seeking comment. The company has a picture on its website of a stage it built at the Indiana State Fair with 60-foot-high towers.

One issue for investigators likely will be how officials at the fairgrounds, which are located north of downtown Indianapolis, addressed whether to cancel the outdoor event as a severe thunderstorm bore down.

The National Weather Service had informed fair officials by 8 p.m. that a storm would arrive at about 9:15 p.m. packing 40-mile-per-hour winds and one- to two-inch hail.

At about 8:45 p.m., an announcer told fans how to find shelter from the approaching storm. Within the next four minutes, fair officials decided to order the crowd into nearby buildings, said Dave Bursten, an Indiana State Police spokesman.

But at 8:49 p.m., before any evacuation order, a wind gust whipped up a cloud of dust and toppled the stage's metal-and-fabric roof and backdrop. That gust was estimated at 60 mph to 70 mph, said Dan McCarthy, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis.

The weather service was "right about the arrival of the storm. It came 15 to 20 minutes after the tragedy," Gov. Mitch Daniels said. "But no one knew and it's not clear to me at this stage how anyone could've foreseen a sudden, highly localized blast of wind in one place."

ENLARGE

Family members comfort their injured relatives as Indianapolis firefighters and paramedics tend to the victims.
The Indianapolis Star / Associated Press

Four people died when the accident happened, and a fifth died overnight. The Marion County coroner's office identified the victims as Alina BigJohny, 23, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tammy Vandam, 42, of Wanatah, Ind.; Christina Santiago, 29, of Chicago; and Glenn Goodrich, 49, and Nathan Byrd, 51, both of Indianapolis. Mr. Byrd died overnight.

In Chicago, the Howard Brown Health Center issued a statement Sunday describing Ms. Santiago as the manager of programming at its Lesbian Community Care Project.

Ms. BigJohny was closing in on her goal of becoming a high-school teacher.

"She was a really great gal who was willing to put in extra work with students," said Denny Craft, a fifth grade teacher at Laketon Intermediate School in Laketon, Ind., where he supervised Ms. BigJohny as a student teacher in language arts early this year.

Mid-America Sound uses roof systems designed by James Thomas Engineering, a British firm that has its U.S. operations in Knoxville, Tenn. An official at James Thomas Engineering said Sunday that one of its U.S. engineers was heading to Indiana to investigate.

Several state agencies led by the Indiana State Police are investigating the accident.

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